One World Trade Center NYC

New York, USA, 2013

The One World Trade Centre is a building that embraced new architectural and environmental standards in urban design to symbolize New York’s urban fabric. The feature façade walls of the 50 feet tall foyer and each of the four cantilevered canopies design is grand and elegant. Lightweight design and materials, such as single-glazed, laminated, low-iron, frameless glass panels, which are attached to the cable-net wall with cast stainless steel spiders created the even surface architectural effect, one of the signatures of the building.The spire, crucial to the tower, was designed to complement the building pragmatically, aesthetically, and symbolically, making the tower exactly 1,776 feet tall, a number representative of the United States Declaration of Independence signed in 1776. Functionality dictated the antenna to be designed to broadcasting specifications. Therefore, the mast was devised in seven stacked sections decreasing gradually in diameter so that each different shape could meet broadcasting requirements and construction methods. The spire has tight limits on lateral movement, especially near the tip, and the underlying armature is engineered to deflect only 0.5 degrees in a sustained 50-mile-per-hour wind (approximately 80.5 km/h). Furthermore, the communication ring functions as a support for all broadcasting equipment as well as for lighting and window-washing rigs at its base, thus designed to facilitate maintenance.

The Antenna

The conceptual and detailed design of the antenna structure was a diligent process. The antenna is 443 feet high and its base stands on the top of a 1,332 feet tall building.

The Foyer

The cable-net walls incorporate tensioned high-strength stainless steel cables that support the façade and resist lateral loads from wind and blast, while the load is held by a two-way system with vertical and horizontal cables attached at the main structure.

Antenna height135 m (443 ft)

Base of the antenna406 m (1,332 ft)

Communication Ring (axonometric)40 m in diameter (130 ft)

Dimensions of the facadesSouth 69' x 63', North 49’ x 68’, East and West 29’ x 63’